Rap Flashback – Original Gangster

May 14th 1991 was the release date of Ice T’s 4th album, entitled, O.G. – Original Gangster. The album, widely considered Ice T’s best, contains the track “New Jack Hustler (Nino’s Theme)”, which doubled as the theme song for the Warner Bros., 1991 motion picture ,New Jack City. The movie, in which Ice T co-starred alongside Hollywood mainstays such as Wesley Snipes, Allen Payne, Mario Van Peebles, and a young Chris Rock, catapulted the Godfather of Gangsta Rap into the mainstream and he’s never looked back. The album also introduced Body Count, Ice T’s controversial Heavy Metal band which would go on to release the highly controversial track, “Cop Killer”, the following year.

Over the course of his career Ice T has managed to effectively toe the line between scaring the hell out of and vastly entertaining mainstream America. For that and so much more, we at JP Lime Productions salute one of Hip Hop’s true Original Gangsters.